Adhir does an Aiyar on Modi, apologises; BJP lashes out at him

Aditi Tandon|
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 25

Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday did a Mani Shankar Aiyar on Prime Minister Narendra Modi by making disparaging references to him in the House and blaming it on his poor Hindi.

Chowdhury was the lead opposition speaker on the debate on the President’s address to the joint session of Parliament. The former Bengal Congress chief, however, landed into a controversy with his very first debate as he used derogatory remarks for the PM while retorting to BJP lead speaker Pratap Sarangi’s act of bracketing the former with Swami Vivekananda.

One of the comments Chowdhury made was “Don’t compare a monk with a monster.” Another, more caustic remark by the Congressman, however, was expunged by the Chair.

“There has been a misunderstanding. I never said ‘gandi naali’. If the PM is upset, I am sorry. I had no intention of hurting him. If he is hurt I will personally apologise to him. By ‘naali’ I meant channel. My Hindi is not good,” Chowdhury rushed to clarify outside the House after the BJP lashed out at him.

As the political war raged, Chowdhury said he was only responding to Sarangi’s comparison of the PM with Vivekananda.

“Sarangi put the two on the same pedestal. This hurt the sentiments of Bengal. That’s why I said you’re provoking me. I’ll say you’re comparing Maa Ganga with ‘naali’…,” said the Congress leader as the BJP mounted a counter-offensive.

BJP working chief JP Nadda slammed the Congress for its leader’s “utterly condemnable” comments.

“The Congress continues to insult the PM elected by 125 crore Indians. People have been giving befitting replies to the Congress election after election. The Congress’s arrogance will be its undoing,” Nadda said as the matter blew over in replay of Aiyar’s “neech aadmi” remarks on Modi. Those remarks were also blamed by Aiyar on his poor Hindi.

Besides, Chowdhury trended on Twitter all day for seeking a national moustache status for the moustache of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman who was released by Pakistan after being held captive.

Most Twitter buffs asked if a “national beard” was next. NC’s Omar Abdullah said, “The Congress wants India to have a national moustache.  I look forward to seeing all my friends in the Congress sporting the Abhinandan moustache.”

Chowdhury may have raised the BJP’s heckles with his tirade against the PM but he drew a heavy applause from the opposition for attributing the BJP’s Lok Sabha win to “master-marketing” and for terming BJP a champion of “political plagiarism”.

UPA chief Sonia Gandhi frequently hailed Chowdhury, often prompting him to list Congress-time laws like the RTI, RTE and Right to Food.

So if BJP’s Sarangi’s speech was all about Modi praises, Chowdhury’s was all about Jahawarlal Nehru and Congress praises. 

He asked the PM and BJP chief and Home Minister Amit Shah who were present in the House, “You say you will demolish Pakistan. Could you have demolished Pakistan had the Congress not built missiles? No. Who gave India Bhakra Nangal, ONGC, NTPC, SBI…The Congress did. How many PSUs did you create? You just shut them down.” 

The Congress leader spoke for 90 minutes, well past his allotted 55.